Jack Black is the latest celebrity to fall victim to an online death hoax after his band Tenacious D tweeted an announcement about his apparent "death".

Fortunately, the 46-year-old is alive and Tenacious D's was "hacked" in an elaborate prank that has very few people laughing now.

On Sunday night, a series of shocking tweets appeared on the comedy band's Twitter account.

"It is with a heavy heart I am to announce that Jack Black passed away last night at 3.37am. The cause of death is yet unknown," the tweet read, followed by "#RipJackBlack."

Savvy fans suspected it could be a prank, with one user, Napoleon, pointing out that he was just hanging out with Diplo hours earlier on Snapchat.

Another claimed they saw him board a plane from Germany to LA.

Sure enough, the truth came out. After causing a storm on Twitter, the hacker tweeted through Tenacious D's account: "Calm down guys! It's just a prank bro, look there's the camera.

"The Legend is still alive, it is OK guys :).

"Just a meme bro.

"While you are all on Twitter, you should all follow me @Ruthless XDDD."

Once the band regained control of their account, they confirmed they'd been hacked, and that Jack was "alive and well".

Earlier, Tenacious D guitarist John Konesky confirmed it on his account too: "@RealTenaciousD's Twitter feed was hacked. That s--- ain't true! They're working on fixing it!"

Weirdly, it's not the first time Jack has been pronounced dead on social media. In 2012, a Facebook hoax claimed he'd fallen off a cliff in New Zealand. Another hoax in 2014 claimed he'd suffered a stroke.